Tips to play with the machine gun ?

Ziggurattus said:

supply depots ?

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Yeah there are ammo cache in the map, if you press M it will bring the map and there is an icon that says where the depots are. It's like 3 bullets with a green square and a white cross on it.

All lies.

in the current state of the German MG
the best strategy is to run around hip-firing screaming "LEEEEROOOOOOOOY JEEEEEEEENNKIIIIIIINS" in the mic

and this is not a troll - it works

Don't. Use a rifle instead.

The Machine gun is capable of sustained and accurate fire at long ranges.

It may not be a rifle with precision but it will control an area better then anything else.

I spent the better part of about 60 games doing only the MG 34. Some things I picked up along the way(and really this apply to all weapons but especially the MG)


Avoid using a Window: These things are death traps. not only do you make an excellent silhouette, but unless you have a window covered on one side you've got too much area to cover with your eyes and your enemies only have to spot your bipod/head which stand out like penguins in the desert.

Now, sometimes you might have to use a window because you have no option. In this case you want to ideally recess yourself from the direct sil of the Window. This will allow you to focus your watchful eye on a tighter area and most enemies won't closely examine all the windows. When you recess yourself you are in the darker part of a room and won't silhouette yourself or draw attention by sticking the barrel of the gun out the window. Also avoid windows with the framework still in them. For whatever reason your MG will go through walls and doors but it won't fire through the framework in a wooden window.(I'm talking about those cross sections in some windows)

Ambush: Setting up in an Ambush will yield the highest kill return. You can often manouvre your way into an enfilade position on the routes they take to reinforce an objective. They won't expect it, and they'll die because of it. It is imperative you move immediately afterwards(killcam or not) because they will come and find you. You've done your job, you killed some guys before they got into the objective and you slowed down everyone else.

Stay with the team: While Ambushing will earn you kills it won't help your score. You need to stick just behind your squad mates when they defend or move up into Objectives. Not only will this prevent you from having to clear rooms personally but you'll be able to setup and position yourself according to threats in the area.

Sticking with the team will also provide you with a constant stream of Ammunition.

Bursts, but often: The whole role of the MG is to lay down an impressive amount of firepower. Keep your shooting to short controlled bursts but don't be afraid to burst often. While suppression mechanics are not that impressive right now blasting away at craters or windows will allow more of your squad to get to positions of cover when they assault something. Also don't be afraid to Spec fire something suspicious. Your MG bullets will go through alot of material. if you've got the ammo don't be afraid to shoot up bushes or through wooden fences. You may not kill someone but it might make them move.

I know there's more but you'll pick it up. I was playing as a Machine Gunner when I scored my highest single round score of 250pts. So you can do well with them.

I think the most important tip is; don't play as Russia if you want to be an MG user.

Russian MG in this game is so gimped, after first shot the accuracy of the gun goes out the window. To give you an idea, if you shoot 3 ~ 4 shot burst, only the very first shot will land on a human size target at 100m+. And the rambo hipfire? That notoriety is from MG34 since DP28 can't reliable hit a target 10m away if fired from the hip.

Be at the front lines in an offensive or stay back some to cover a retreat when using probing tactics. It's up to you.

The most important thing is to keep your firing lane as narrow as possible so that you have less things to shoot back at you and you can easily focus on a brief area to cover. 180? cover is a very bad idea. MGs for me work well with less than 30? regions of cover.


Move with your team and use Teamspeak or something for your squads. I wish this game had ACRE support.

Gaizokubanou said:

I think the most important tip is; don't play as Russia if you want to be an MG user.

Russian MG in this game is so gimped, after first shot the accuracy of the gun goes out the window. To give you an idea, if you shoot 3 ~ 4 shot burst, only the very first shot will land on a human size target at 100m+. And the rambo hipfire? That notoriety is from MG34 since DP28 can't reliable hit a target 10m away if fired from the hip.

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I only started trying the DP-28 and I got 61 kills on Spartanovka.

My advice if you're using this thing (which is WAY worse than the MG-34, is true) is to think of it as a 50 round clip semi auto rifle. Just fire one shot but fire one shot over and over and over in rapid succession. It seemed to work alright for me.

The recoil needs to be lower on mgs. You are almost more accurate when you hip fire the MG34 then when you deploy it.

Ziggurattus said:

Heh yeah tryign to convince some friends to play the game , that will make it easier indeed , thanks everyone .

Only doubt i have still is about the supply depots , where can i spot them to resupply my ammo ?

Cheers

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Resupply depos are marked on the map, they look like stashed ammo boxes and they refill all your ammo. Just check your map to find one.

This is a very important part of MG'ing:
Don't go lying in a place where half the map can have his sights pulled on you.
Pick a spot where there is only 1 way through so you can close down acces to that part of the map. (The less you need to coverthe more effective your fire becomes. It also decreases the chance you'll get shot before spotting the enemy) It is also imperative that there is a rifleman supporting you.
A good MG team always consist of an MG and at least one rifleman covering the other side and supplying the MG with ammo.
This is at least how i learned to play the MG while in the ranks of the 29th. It might be kinda hard to get a rifleman to support you in pubs, but it definatly pays off.

If you deploy in a window, don't deploy in the centre. Try and deploy on one side of the window and shoot the other way IE if you deploy to the left of the window you will shoot right out of the window. This allows you to be almost entirely covered by the wall when you fire, and reduces the angle that enemies can fire back from.

The smaller the angle you have to cover, the more exponentially effective you become. You're not meant to dominate the battlefield, but dominate and deny a small part of it.

BigG said:

If you're playing territory mode with killcam...once you get a kill you're going to have to move. On countdown you may be able to stay in one area...

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on hardcore realism is there still killcam?

Ziggurattus said:

What kind of play style should i have with the MG ?

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Here are some basic small unit tactics that everyone should be aware of.

In a typical infantry company, there will be several platoons of various makeup. One platoon will be standard infantry, while another would be a support platoon. That platoon would have light mortars and heavy machine guns with tripods. They would set up at some distance, say 1000m away from the target, and would provide indirect and/or sustained MG fire in the way people seem to think. Long bursts and smoking barrels and so on.

That is NOT how a squad gunner in a typical infantry platoon will use his gun. For a start you have neither the sights nor the platform to fire at targets over say 500m away effectively - that is, killing people. You can spray a field at up to 2000m, but in that case you're not aiming at an individual. But most infantry platoons will not end up in such long range engagements. Their whole reason for existence is to "close with the enemy" so staying that far away is pointless.

In a game like RO, the gunner is far more mobile and deceptive. When I ran drills with the gun in training, we for example would constantly be running to the top of the next little hill or rise along the path of advance. It is called "bounding overwatch" and your job is simply to cover the movement of your squad for a minute or two at a time. This is while you are NOT in combat. Once combat breaks out, you will be looking to find the nearest "dead ground" - a space where the enemy con not observe or directly target you. This may be no more than putting a distant object or mound between you and the enemy, or even just dropping into the lowest bit of land you can see.

Always think "when in doubt, prone" if you are moving and you come to an area where you can not see any activity of friendlies, go prone and stop moving and just listen for a few seconds. Listen for shots and shouts and footsteps and try to get a mental picture of where any movement is, and plan your route accordingly. Move from prone to prone using the sprint key so that even if you just let go of the keyboard, you will be ready to fire aimed shots in a few moments. That may be all you need.

Keep as much stamina as possible. Only sprint if you are exposed. You may need it to just run away if things get hairy. If you are not able to hit a guy, and he knows where you are, don't keep trying to hit him, simply displace. Move 10m in a perpendicular direction, go prone and wait. Do it right and he won't even see you move. Then you have the advantage again.

Don't be afraid to just back off and try coming at it a different way. Often times a feint can do wonders. Run to one side of an area you want to attack in dead ground, take a bunch of shots at the target and bug out to the other side. They'll all be looking for the gun in the wrong place, sometimes making them easy targets.

Always place the gun on the side of the squad that is closest to the expected line of contact. You never want the gun firing over the squad's head if you can help it. After awhile everyone will be deaf and they may not hear you firing and stand up, getting killed. In this game you don't go deaf at all except when suppressed, so keep up as much fire as you can that doesn't needlessly waste ammo. You don't have much, even when being resupplied. If you only shoot at known targets, or to keep heads down for a few specific seconds while a squad crosses open ground, and then immediately displace, you will have more ammo if things go really wrong, your barrel won't overheat, you won't expose yourself so much and it also makes you think aggressively.

You're not trying to miss the enemy (the so called "suppression" is about that, but realism isn't), you're trying to kill him if he moves. It's not just about making him THINK he will die if he moves... its about actually making him DIE if he moves. Long bursts destroy accuracy and thus mean you are not trying to kill the enemy, which is the other part of the infantryman's role:

"To close with and kill the enemy." was the motto I was taught.

You will notice that very little of what it means to be the gunner has anything to do with how you aim or fire the gun. It's all about where you put the gun, when you fire the gun, and making sure that if the gun's location is known, the gun is moved as soon as possible to prevent it being lost.

The rest of the squad needs to remember the gunner can't move fast so if they want MG support they need to slow down so the gunner can do his bounding overwatch. The squad should cover the gunner when the gunner moves, and the gunner covers the squad when the squad moves.

Within the squad separate teams will do the same, one moving while the other covers. Always in pairs.

Basically, if you want to survive in this game, you have to think like a real soldier, not like an FPS gamer. Most other FPS games get it wrong, which means you can be sloppy. Here that gets you killed.

As you can see, I can go on and on.

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Just wanted to give an example of using displacement to win an engagement. Say you are in a house, and you enter a hallway, at the end of which is an enemy. Most people know to get out of the hallway, so they run into a room. Most people also know that if you "get away" like that, most other people can't help themselves but to try and follow you to kill you, so they set up in the room, aiming at the door.

So firstly, if you're the one that ran into the room, and if you didn't take a shot, if you had reacted quickly enough he may think you didn't see him, in which case that will be safe. But if the guy has any clue, the first thing through the door will be a grenade, so that will likely get you killed.

What you REALLY need to do, if possible, is to go into the NEXT room after that. This of course means you should try to enter rooms that have an alternative exit of some kind. If you do though, go into the next area. If the person grenades, then enters, and you're not there, they really will think you didn't see them and kept on running. So now they think you have a head start and will more often than not sprint through the next door... right into your sights.

This isn't a gun only thing, though. This is the kind of thinking everyone should have. The number one goal is to avoid having the enemy know where you are. As soon as you even suspect he might know, move, and always move FURTHER than you think is safe. If they don't follow after a few seconds, retrace your steps. That might mean they are a little more cautious and don't go chasing people into ambushes. So they most likely will now stop in the room they have cleared, to reload, bandage, and listen, and plan their next move. This is when you walk up behind them and molest them in the manner of your choosing.

It's all in the mind. Get inside the enemy's mind, while keeping him out of yours, and no matter what weapon you are carrying, or even how good you are with it, you will usually prevail.

In a typical infantry company, there will be several platoons of various makeup. One platoon will be standard infantry, while another would be a support platoon. That platoon would have light mortars and heavy machine guns with tripods. They would set up at some distance, say 1000m away from the target, and would provide indirect and/or sustained MG fire in the way people seem to think. Long bursts and smoking barrels and so on.

That is NOT how a squad gunner in a typical infantry platoon will use his gun. For a start you have neither the sights nor the platform to fire at targets over say 500m away effectively - that is, killing people. You can spray a field at up to 2000m, but in that case you're not aiming at an individual. But most infantry platoons will not end up in such long range engagements. Their whole reason for existence is to "close with the enemy" so staying that far away is pointless.

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This is all so true Karma. The biggest problem I see with people using MGs in any game is a mis-identification of the role. The "facts" they know about machine guns and weapons platoons are based off of he-said, she-said stuff and not enough practical knowledge.

It's too bad their aren't any player deployable tripod MGs in the game though.

You're not trying to miss the enemy (the so called "suppression" is about that, but realism isn't), you're trying to kill him if he moves. It's not just about making him THINK he will die if he moves... its about actually making him DIE if he moves. Long bursts destroy accuracy and thus mean you are not trying to kill the enemy, which is the other part of the infantryman's role:

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Even more myths deflated. Suppression is a very real thing but gamers rely on it too much. The value of a machine gun as i'm sure you know comes from its ability to saturate an area with fire. Which increases kill probability, the whole concept of "suppression" is a side effect of that fact. Not vice versa.

Just got session banned because some guy on my team decided he was going to run in front of my MG while I was shooting.
How do people think when they run in front of someone that is aiming his weapon?

"I have right of way"